Tell Me I'm Dreaming
by IcarusWing
Summary: When Victoria Michelle is kidnapped by an obscenely cheerful rabbit-eared man and taken to a world where everyone is convinced that she is the legendary "Alice," come to save them at long last, she is sure they have the wrong person. But with war on the horizon, can she find it in herself to be the hero this strange world needs?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: And so I'm starting another multichapter... I'm going to work hard to finish this one. Give it a chance, guys. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia... though it's only a matter of time.**

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All she could see was the glow of the midday sun on the backs of her closed eyelids, the rays pleasantly warming her. The daisies tickled her cheeks and her thoughts drifted.

_This is nice, _she thought, feeling the wind on her exposed face. _Quiet, relaxing…_

"Hey there! Are you Alice?"

"What the-?" she sat up quickly, but felt her forehead slam against something solid. She laid back down, rubbing her aching head.

"Hey, what was that for?" complained the voice, and Victoria looked up to see a rather peculiar man. There were tears pooling in his blue eyes, and he too was rubbing a red spot on his forehead. He was wearing old fashioned but oddly colored clothes; powder blue slacks with a yellow waistcoat, a purple tie, and an old fashioned brown jacket over a red blazer. The strangest things about him, though, were the fluffy white rabbit ears that sprung from his caramel hair.

"I'm sorry," said Victoria, not quite sure what to do. On one hand, she was alone with a strange man who could take advantage of her at any moment. On the other… the ears _were _rather adorable.

"Well, anyway," said the man, who seemed to have recovered his cheerfulness abnormally fast. "Are you Alice?"

"No, I'm not," she said, tilting her head. Who was Alice? "My name's Victoria."

"No," he said impatiently. "I'm not asking about your _name._ Are you Alice?"

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about," she said, slightly annoyed. If he wasn't asking about her name, then what was he asking?

He stood, and examined her closely. "You have blue eyes," he said, "and brown hair. You're also wearing strange clothes." He nodded decisively. "Yeah, you're Alice."

Victoria spluttered. _"I _have strange clothes?" she asked, looking down at her jeans and hoodie. It may have been summer, but it was only sixty-eight degrees out. "My clothes are perfectly normal! Your clothes are strange!"

The rabbit man cocked an eyebrow. "Not where I come from," he said. "Anyway, come on, Alice!" He grinned and pulled her easily to her feet.

"Where are you taking me?" she demanded, trying to tug herself out of his grip and kicking him in the shins. However, he hoisted her up onto his shoulder and began to carry her toward the forest. "I'll—I'll scream!" she threatened, panic rising in her throat. She sucked in a breath, a let her cry loose. "RAPE—AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Her scream had tuned from word to a meaningless cry of terror as she felt herself plummeting down, down, down into darkness.

"Hahaha, isn't this fun?" laughed the rabbit man, oblivious to her fear.

_"No!" _she yelled, eyes shut tight. They were going to crash at the bottom and she would die, never to see her dear sister again, and it would be all this infernal rabbit man's fault—

"Well, here we are!" he said, and, sure enough, when she opened her eyes, they were on solid ground.

"Put me down!" she demanded, and he did, grabbing her around the waist and setting her gently on the red tiles.

Victoria looked around. "Where are we?" she asked, looking around. They were standing in a long, dark hall lined with doors. There was a glass table a few yards away, and heavy curtains covering some sections of the wall. Victoria looked up. The ceiling was fully intact, without a hole in sight. "How are we going to get back?" she asked, beginning to panic.

"Back?" asked the rabbit man. "We're not going back, silly!"

"Not going… back?" Angry tears sprung into her eyes as she comprehended this. "What the hell do you mean, we're not _going back? _Of course we're going back!"

"Don't—don't cry!" he said, eyes widening behind his glasses as he tried to put his hand on her shoulder. She smacked it off. "Don't touch me!"

"Hey," he said. "When you see Wonderland, you won't even want to go back! Here, come look," he said, taking her hand despite her protests and leading her over to the glass table. Upon it sat a tall drink with a straw in it, and familiar looking red box with a yellow handle and curve on one of the faces.

"Is that a… Happy Meal?" asked Victoria, anger forgotten in the face of her curiosity.

"Sure is," grinned the rabbit man, opening the box and taking out two hamburgers, some fries, and a toy.

"Here," he said, handing her a hamburger. "Save this for later, you'll need it." She nodded, deciding to dump it when he wasn't looking. "Now, eat this," he said, handing her a fry. She eyed it suspiciously. It could be loaded with date rape drugs, or she could choke, or the salt content could give her high blood pressure, or—

She ate the fry.

"Good, good. Now that you've eaten that, take a sip of this! Only a little one, though, or the effects could be disastrous." He handed her the drink.

"Wait, what's this going to do to me?" she asked, weary.

"It'll help you get through the door we need to go through!" he said, ever cheerful.

Victoria sighed. "Fine," she said. "But first, you have to tell me your name."

The man's ears stood up straighter. "Oh, I forgot!" he exclaimed, scratching his head in embarrassment. "I'm Alfred F. Jones, the White Rabbit."

"I'm Victoria Michelle, but you can call me Tori," she said, extending her hand. He shook it warmly. If she was stuck here with him, she figured she may as well go along with him.

"Now, drink the Coke," he said, and she did.

The room, along with Alfred, began to grow bigger and bigger. "Alfred? What's happening?" she asked, frightened.

"You're shrinking, of course!" he laughed, oblivious to her fear. He grabbed the Coke that remained the same size from her hand before it could drop and crush her. He ate a fry, took a sip of Coke, and began to shrink with her. Soon, they were both a wee three inches tall.

Tori collapsed on the ground. "What the _hell?" _she asked, her voice shaking.

"What?" asked Alfred, surprised? "Don't they have Coke in your world?"

"Of—of course they have Coke!" she gasped. "But it's just a _drink! _The only thing it does it rot your teeth!"

Alfred laughed. "Wow, your world sounds really strange!" He stood and offered her a hand. "Well, let's go, shall we?"

She ignored both his hand and his comment and stood on her own. "If Coke makes you shrink, then what do fries do?" she asked, intrigued despite herself.

"They make your clothes shrink with you," he said as he made his way toward the end of the hall, where he moved a heavy curtain aside. "Ah, here we are," he said, revealing a door that was only slightly taller than they were. "Now, where did I put that key?" He looked inside his blazer, under his shoes, and he finally located it tucked neatly behind his tie. "Here we are," he said, unlocking the door. "After you."

Tori walked through the door he held open, and looked around in wonder. It was like no land she had ever seen, with towering gardens and cobble stone walk ways, castles in the distance and strange creatures roaming the land. The sky was filled with stormy clouds giving it a solemn feel. "What… what is this place?" she asked, as she turned to see Alfred emerging behind her.

He grinned, and gestured toward the horizon. "Welcome to Wonderland," he said.

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**A/N: Like it? Hate it? Have any suggestions? Also, this may or may not be a romance. Thoughts? Take just a couple of seconds of your time to let me know, please. It may be a little thing for you, but it's not for me. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Forgive the shortness of this chapter. I'm trying to gradually make them longer as this goes on. Also, since I don't feel like typing in accents, just try to read them like that and forgive me for my laziness. And anyone who wants to edit my little French tidbits, feel free, because all I have is Google translate... Enjoy~**

**Disclaimer: Only because I feel like I'm going to get sued if I don't say it... I don't own Hetalia. Shocker, right?**

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"I still think you have no idea where you're going," muttered Victoria for the seventh time.

Alfred just laughed. "Relax, Alice! I grew up in these woods. I know them like the back of my hand." He was walking slightly ahead of her on the purple path in the middle of the dark forest, and she was struggling to keep up with his long strides. She did her best to keep close to him, though.

The door had opened up onto a grassy hill overlooking a sprawling city. Victoria had craned her head to get a closer look. There was something strange about it... But Alfred had grabbed her hand and dragged her toward the other side of the hill, toward a dense expanse of trees. "We don't have time for sightseeing, we're already late as it is!"

"Where did the door go?" asked Victoria, for when she had looked back, there was nothing but air.

"It wasn't going to wait around forever, silly!" exclaimed Alfred, looking highly amused at her assumption.

She decided not to ask.

The woods were rather spooky. Gentle bursts of light were often seen between the trees, accompanied by haunting melodies. When she had asked about their origin, Alfred had said, "That's the fairies at work," in a voice that sounded oddly strained.

"Fairies?" Victoria had said, intrigued. "What are they working on?"

"You'll see soon enough," said Alfred, and refused to answer any more questions.

At that point, Victoria had come to the most logical conclusion. She was dreaming. What other explanation was there? Kidnapping rabbit men, disappearing doors, and now _fairies_.

So she decided to go along with it.

Suddenly, Alfred stopped, and Victoria looked up to see a sign post in the middle of a fork in the road. It was full of arrows and colors and words that made no sense, but Alfred seemed to have no difficulty interpreting it. He narrowed his eyes.

"Something isn't right here," he muttered, before straightening up and calling out in a booming voice, "FRANCIS! I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE!"

"Quiet down!" Victoria whisper-shrieked, not wanting to attract the attention of whatever else could be lurking in these woods. But it was too late, it seemed.

A figure began to appear on top of the sign post, parts gradually becoming visible until it solidified into the full form of a blonde man with cat ears and a mischievous grin. "_Bonjour, mon lapin_," he said. "I do not think the Hatter would like it if he knew you were forsaking security and calling out real names like this." Though he was scolding Alfred, his tone was light.

"It's not going to matter for long, dude. I found Alice!" His previous excitement had returned, and he pushed Victoria in front of him.

Francis observed her with interest. "Are you sure she's the one?" he asked curiously, sliding down from the post and walking closer to observe her.

"Look at how she's dressed!" said Alfred, as though that settled it.

"There's nothing wrong with the way I dress!" exploded Victoria, crossing her arms and stamping her foot.

Francis chuckled. "Calm down, _chérie_. You would look _magnifique_ in anything you wore," he said, his eyes taking on a different light as he slid his arms around her waist.

Suddenly, though, she was yanked away from him by Alfred. "Not cool, bro. She may be Alice, but she's not trained yet. But back to business!" he exclaimed, as though he had just remembered. Which he probably had. "Why'd you change the signs, dude? I almost took the wrong path!"

"I was under orders from the White King," he said, cat tail flicking back and forth. "He said it would put the enemy off the Hatter's trail, though somehow, I doubt it will work." He sighed, as though he were used to carrying out useless orders.

"It couldn't hurt," said Alfred. "But c'mon, let's go!" he said, eyes sparkling. "Arthur's gonna be so proud of me!"

Francis didn't bother scolding him about the use of real names. "_Oui._ He certainly is."

As they walked down the left path, Francis and Alfred talked, and Victoria listened. She didn't understand most of what they were saying, as it was filled with strange phrases and names like "Jabberwocky" and "Red Rabbit," but it was interesting none the less. From what she managed to gather, they were on their way to a tea party where they would meet someone named Arthur, who would then decide what to do with her.

"Oh!" Alfred said, rabbit ears standing up straight as he stopped in his tracks. "Alice, I forgot to tell you something important!" he said.

She had long since stopped telling him to call her Tori. "What is it?"

"Whatever Arthur gives you, don't eat the food!" he warned, his tone urgent. "Pretend to eat it and chuck it under the table when he's not looking or something. Just don't let it near your mouth!"

"Why not?" asked Victoria. "Will it turn me into a bat?"

"No," he said, grimacing, "but it tastes _terrible."_

Victoria laughed for the first time since entering this strange dream. "I'll keep that in mind."

"We're here," interrupted Francis, pointing to a break in the trees. "This is where I leave you_, ma chérie. Au revoir!_" And, with a wink and a turn of his tail, he faded into the darkness.

They emerged into a large clearing that contained a house and a large, empty back yard surrounded by a picket fence. Alfred strode up to the back gate and knocked in what seemed to be a pattern. Something shimmered in the air, and the gate opened. "Ladies first," said Alfred, holding open the gate for her to pass.

As soon as Victoria entered, it changed.

The back yard was no longer empty. There was a table, at least twenty feet long, filling the space, and each place was set with mismatching cups and saucers. There were tea pots and plates of charred food at intervals along the length.

For all this food, though, there were only three people sitting at the table.

One of them was asleep. He had little mouse ears sprouting from his wavy brown hair, and he was resting his head on the cat, also asleep, curled up in his arms.

The second had rabbit ears like Alfred, although they were a light brown, and his white suit was neat as his short black hair. He nodded to them when they approached.

If the third man had animal ears, then they weren't visible due to the large and strangely shaped top hat sitting on the spiky blonde hair that couldn't quite cover his enormous eyebrows.

"Iggy!" cried Alfred happily when they reached the end of the table.

"I told you not to call me that, git," Eyebrows said, scowling at the energetic young man over his tea cup.

"Can I call you Artie, then?" asked Alfred, grinning as though he already knew the answer.

"That's not the point!" cried Eyebrows indignantly. "I've _explained _to you _countless _time that calling me anything other than my code name could have dire results—"

Alfred laughed off the lecture. "Calm down, dude, I was only joking! Besides, that's not important! I have Alice!"

Eyebrows seemed to notice her for the first time. "Hair ribbons…" he murmured.

"Yup," said Alfred, who'd sat down and helped himself to what seemed to be a pot of coffee.

"Allow me to introduce myself," said Eyebrows, rising. "My name is Arthur Kirkland, though I'm more commonly referred to as the Mad Hatter." He bent over to kiss her hand. "These are my friends, Kiku Honda, the March Hare," he gestured toward the rabbit eared man, who nodded again, "and Herekles Karpusi, the Dormouse. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Alice."

Victoria pulled back, slightly flushed. "Please, I'd be much more comfortable if everyone called me Tori.

Arthur's reply was interrupted by Alfred, who had spit out his coffee. "Did you put opium in the sugar again?" he asked, coughing as he turned to face him with an accusing glare.

Arthur's glare was twice as menacing. "It's not opium," he said through gritted teeth in a manner that led Victoria to believe this wasn't the first time they'd had this discussion. "It's magic sugar that enhances flavor."

"Oh yeah?" said Alfred, raising an eyebrow. He pointed at the Dormouse. "Then why is he sleeping?"

"A side effect," sniffed Arthur, who had reclaimed his seat.

Victoria sat down beside Alfred, who had found an uncontaminated pot of sugar to sweeten his drink.

"Help yourself to some tea and scones," said Arthur, gesturing toward the full platters, "and we'll discuss the arrangements for your traveling."

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**A/N: So we've met the Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter, March Hair, and Dormouse. Can anyone guess what could possibly be happening? Remember, suggestions and con crit are welcome.**

** Review~  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I thought this would be longer… it's so short it's painful. And you guys've been waiting a whole week. Please forgive me. ;-; Worry not, though. I'll never, ever let a chapter be under 1,000 words. Ever. **

**Enjoy…**

Victoria blinked. "Travel? Travel to where?" she asked, mentally berating herself for asking such a stupid question. It's not as though the answer would mean much to her anyway.

"Didn't the White Rabbit tell you?" asked Arthur, shooting Alfred a half-heartedly irritated glance, as though he hadn't really expected him to, anyway.

"Oh yeah!" said Alfred, sitting up straight, and Tori had to suppress a giggle when his ears followed suit.

"We're going to take you to meet the Resistance leaders in a couple of days so they can start training you."

"Train me for _what_, exactly?" she asked patiently. Answers were so close...

"Goodness, Alfred, did you tell her _anything_?" asked Arthur, putting his head in his hands.

"You mean White Rabbit, right?" asked Alfred cheekily. He paled under the glare Arthur sent his way. "I thought it would be better if you explained it," he lied quickly. Actually, he'd completely forgotten that she didn't know why she was here. He'd been so excited to find Alice at long last...

"Alright, love. This must all be very confusing for you, so I'll try to explain in the simplest way I can..."

And so he began.

"Since I'm assuming that Alfred literally told you _nothing_, I'll begin with where we are. This world could be described as a sister world to your own, which you were able to enter because you had physical contact with someone who was born here. This world is called Wonderland.

"Now, you've only seen a small portion of this world, but most of it isn't in good condition. You see, for many years now, we've been at war. No one's quite sure how, but several... clones, you might say, of certain citizens with prominent roles in society arrived and turned our world upside down.

"No one knows much about them, but they appear to be the opposite of the original person, and many of them have exceptional skills and powers that make them difficult to battle. They took over our world, and ever since then, they've been ruling with an iron fist.

"Around a year after this happened, several of us, including Alfred and myself, travelled to meet the Oracle and request a Prophecy. In the Prophecy, it was foretold that the Alice would arrive from our sister world and save us from the Evil."

Arthur paused to take in her reaction. Victoria was still, trying to absorb this information. "How come I've never heard of this... other world before?" she asked, all her previous skeptical feelings returning. Somehow, this felt far too real to be a dream. Besides, she wasn't this creative.

"If I may, Arthur-san..." came a quiet voice from across the table.

It was the Asian (Asian-looking, Victoria corrected herself. She doubted they had Asia in Wonderland) man with the rabbit ears, Kiku, who hadn't said a word since she had arrived. He had a soft and rather pleasant voice that suited his dark eyes and careful expression.

"By all means," said Arthur, leaning back in his chair and interlocking his fingers.

"There are many worlds in this dimension, all connected by an intra-dimensional portal called the Gate. The people of Wonderland are the Gatekeepers, and therefore the only ones with the ability to travel through the worlds at will," he explained as he poured himself more tea, which he didn't add cream or sugar to. "This is how we believe the Evil entered our world. However, that would imply that a resident of our world was working alongside them."

"Stop it, Kiku," said Alfred, fists clenched and glaring at the table. "You don't know that. They could have figured out a way to slip through, or it could have been someone messing around with things they shouldn't have been." He seemed upset at the idea of someone from his world purposefully allowing their oppressors through the Gate.

Arthur coughed and looked away. "Let's not dwell on that, Alfred," he said. "The important thing is that we've established the Resistance."

Alfred looked up, and there seemed to be a new sort of fire in his eyes. "The Resistance is an organization, led by Red and White courts. There are secret meetings all over the world that are helping us gain support, weapons, and members. This right here is one of the most important," he said, gesturing to the yard around them. "The Hatter's Tea Party, led by Iggy right over here."

Arthur ignored the nick name. "The problem, however, is that the Red and White courts have never been known to be… cooperative. Even at times like this," he sighed. "They can't even seem to get along with _themselves. _Yao, the Red Queen, is constantly on his guard against—"

"His?" asked Victoria. He _had _said Queen, hadn't he?

"Yes," said Arthur blankly.

"Your Queen's a _boy?" _she asked.

Arthur tilted his head to the side. "What does a political position have to do with gender?" he asked.

"Never mind…" said Victoria. "Please continue."

"Yes…" Arthur was still looking at her oddly. "Well, Yao and Ivan don't get along, and the White King and Queen, Ludwig and Gilbert had a recent falling out, so things aren't going nearly as smooth as we'd like them to."

"That's where you come in, Alice!" said Alfred, who seemed slightly giddy. "You're going to unify the Resistance and lead us in the final battle to victory and liberation!"

"She has to find the sword first," said Kiku. Arthur nodded slowly.

"Right," he said. "The Vorpal Sword…" he grew lost in thought.

"How do you know I'm Alice, anyway?" asked Victoria, who still didn't understand how they could be so sure of themselves.

"The hair ribbons," said Alfred. "The Prophecy said you'd have Scarlet Ribbons."

"You mean... you're basing this off my choice of accessory?" Tori asked skeptically, fingering one of them absent mindedly.

"Not entirely," said Arthur. "There's a... feeling that comes with meeting you. A sixth sense, you could say. We all felt that with meeting you." Alfred and Kiku nodded, and Herekles probably would have too, if he had been awake.

"What does it feel like?" she asked curiously.

Arthur gave her a sad smile. "Hope."

**A/N: Just in case I didn't make it clear enough, which I don't think I did, the Evil is the 2P!Nations. If you don't know what those are or want more information about them, feel free to ask in a review or a PM. **

**IcarusWing stood on the side of a road in the Hetalia Archives, clutching a tattered shawl around her shoulders. **

"**Please…" she begged passerbyers. "Leave a review… I'm starving… I barely have enough to support my story…" **

**The readers ignored her, moving on and dropping reviews for author's with stories that had huge and expensive homes that managed to flourish under the attention. **

**IcarusWing slid down the wall of a building in the alley between two stories, clutching her review jar close to her. "Please…" she whispered, her eyes slipping shut. "We're so… hungry…"**

**Please, feed the hungry author. **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This update is very late I nthe day… School started. Ugh. Well, in anycase, I don't think this will effect my fanfiction productivity. I need SOMETHING to do in class, don't I?**

…**I jest. For the most part. **

**Anyway, I went back and saw that I said in the Author's Note of the first chapter that this was an OC centered fic. It's not. It was going to be originally, but Seychelles is the main character. Just hope that was clear.**

**Onto the chapter…**

* * *

"All right, try again."

"I'm _trying, _damnit!" cried Victoria. 'Frustrated' did not even _begin _to describe her feelings at the moment.

"Tut tut, that sort of language is unbecoming on a lady's tongue," chastised Arthur, though his amusement was visible in his eyes. "Look," he said hurriedly at her glare. "You need focus on calming your system, not getting riled up. Think of something peaceful, like leaves in the wind or the smell of freshly mowed ladybug grass," he said, nodding his head as he sipped his (it must have been his eighth) tea. She was tempted to ask about this so called ladybug grass, but as afternoon slowly faded into a vibrant sunset, she'd quickly learned to ignore such comments, as answers would only lead to more confusion, no doubt.

In any case, she closed her eyes and tried to pull the most relaxing image she possibly could into her mind, envisioning it, trying to sense it in any tangible way.

_A light breeze stirred the white sands, and her eyes were half lidded as she gazed at the turquoise waters of the island home of her youth. The sun beat down on her back, but the heat wasn't oppressive. It was like a blanket, a warm, protective layer that lulled her into drowsiness as the exposed skin of her back tingled pleasantly. With her sense of calm security came nostalgia, the sepia tones of a childhood memory sweeping across the gorgeous seascape. _

"Vic-Victoria!" gasped Alfred, interrupting her day dreaming. "You're doing it! You're actually doing it!"

Her eyes snapped open and whatever she was doing, she'd have to wait to find out due to the fact that she was swept off her feet and into an enormous bear (rabbit?) hug.

"You idiot!" groaned Arthur, putting his head in his hands. "She was doing fine! Why the bloody hell did you interrupt her?"

Alfred stepped back, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Iggy," he said, dodging the tea cup that was thrown his way. "You know how I get when I'm excited…"

"Well, if you can't control yourself, I'll have to send you inside," said Arthur, glowering as hehunted around the back yard for a fresh cup, eventually locating one stuck to the underside of the table.

"No, don't do that!" yelped Alfred, sitting down with his hands folded in front of him, the picture of patience. "I swear I'll behave."

"What exactly did I do?" asked Victoria, who was rather curious and extremely confused (a feeling she was getting used to, she noted). They had been in the back yard all day, and Arthur had been trying to get some sort of reaction out of her, though he wouldn't elaborate on what It was he wanted from her. Kiku and Herekles (who had only woken long enough to collapse on the ground right inside the back door) had long since gone inside.

"You did magic, girl, magic! You summoned a warm, salty breeze that could never be natural during this season. I told you you had it in you," said Arthur, his expression somewhat smug.

"I… I did what?" asked Victoria, not quite comprehending. No, there was no way magic existed. No way. But then again, considering the circumstances…

Why not?

Arthur muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'the lass doesn't even know about magic, I don't even want to know about the sort of upbringing she must have had,' before saying, "Come, now. Your world must have magic, right? _Every _world has some form of it, even the most primitive.

"Of course we have magic," she said, slightly affronted by his tone. "It's just that in my world, magic doesn't actually _exist. _It's… it's all made up. In fairy tales and such."

Now it was Arthur's turn to be offended. "They _dare _make light of it?" he asked. "Magic is an ancient science that has been passed on and taught only to the best—"

"Alright, Arthur," said Alfred, clapping a hand on his shoulder so hard he sank an inch or two into the ground. Arthur quickly backed out of his grasp, rubbing his shoulder and glaring resentfully. "No need to throw a hissy fit."

"I was _not _throwing a hissy fit," huffed the Hatter, but he didn't continue his lecture. He just sighed and said, "In any case, you have it. It's a defining characteristic of Alice. How would you expect to defeat the Evil without it?" Without pausing for an answer, he carried on. "Anyway, you seemed to be most attuned to water," he said, looking around his pockets for something. "What did you imagine?"

"A beach from my childhood home," she said, and the image flashed again in her mind, though it was somehow stronger this time, bringing with it both a sense of homesickness and hope at the same time.

"That has now become your trigger of sorts," he said, still searching for whatever it was he as trying to find. "Whenever you want to summon magic naturally, you can think of that. However, you won't have to once I find the bloody…" The rest of his muttering was unintelligible, but suddenly he snapped his fingers. "Aha! I left them in the basement!" he said, before running into the house, almost tripping over Herekles.

"Do you have any idea what he's going on about?" Victoria asked, casting Alfred a sideways glance.

"None," he said, equally baffled.

Soon Arthur was back, and with him he was carrying a bag made of crushed purple velvet that jingled when he walked.

"Here we are," he said, reaching inside and withdrawing two items, a matching set of what looked like oversized silver rings set with blue jewels. "These will help you call upon and channel your magic," he said. "They go above your hair ribbons," he said, handing them to her. She undid her pigtails and pulled her hair up with the ornaments (which she now realized opened), before replacing her ribbons so the blue and silver was still visible.

"Try calling upon it now," said Arthur, who didn't seem to notice that he was bouncing slightly on his toes in anticipation.

She closed her eyes and did what Arthur had told her to do earlier that afternoon: visualized what she wanted to happen, and call to it with her natural power. It was easier, now. She could sense the source of her magical energy connecting to her new accessories and it was easy to direct it through them. She pictured the blue water, and tried to summon it with her mind.

When she opened her eyes, she noticed that her hands had moved of their own accord and were gently cupping the air around a sphere of pure water. She dropped it in surprise, but even so, Arthur clapped and Alfred let out a whoop of joy.

"Wonderful job, love, really excellent," said Arthur, the scowl fully lifted from his face for the first time since she'd met him.

"Why didn't you give me these things earlier?" Tori asked, fingering them. They were warm to the touch and seemed to be thrumming with energy, vibrating almost.

"It's important for you to learn to summon it on your own, in case you don't have any Tuners on hand," he said. When he looked up at the sky, his eyes widened in surprise at how dark it had gotten. "My, where _has _the time gone?" he asked, before quickly ushering them into the house. "Come, come," he said, holding the back door open, from which the Dormouse had mysteriously disappeared. "Even here, you don't want to be out past sunset. That's when the nasty things come out to play, " he said, and Tori found that she didn't really want to know what he meant by that.

After a brief argument over who would make the supper ("Do you want to poison Alice already? She's only just gotten here!" "There's nothing wrong with my cooking, you git!"), Kiku and Herekles (who was fully awake in the presence of food) joined them, and Victoria listened to them talk (another thing she found she was doing a lot of recently). She was extremely fatigued, what with traveling to a new world and being shoved into a war she hadn't even known existed. Also, the magic practice seemed to have taken a toll on her energy. When she began to fall asleep at the table, Arthur directed her to her room, which she found to be quite cozy. There was a grate for a fire to be lit in the winters, and the bed was of a good size and looked quite plush and comfortable. There was an old fashioned nightgown laid out for her, and while it was a bit frilly for her tastes, it was a lot more comfortable than her jeans.

She climbed between the sheets of the bed and relaxed into it, staring at the deep blue gem of one of the Tuners on her nightstand. It had been a long, confusing day, but she didn't want to think about it now, nor did she want to wonder about what the next day might bring. She just wanted to sink into a dreamless sleep.

And so, with the image of the island beach in mind, she sank into a deep slumber, never noticing the dark figure standing in the corner of the room.

* * *

**A/N: Cliff hanger? Ooohhh….**

**Sorry that the ending was a bit rushed, since I'm about to miss my deadline for posting this and I want to go to bed. XD Well, this is the longest chapter so far! See? Told you they'd get longer...**

**So, is the magic thing cliché? Please, I really need your input on how to make it as original as possible. It's a necessary part of the story, but it's not a main idea. So tell me how to make it as awesome as possible.**

**So, is this story going to fast or slow? The plot should begin to pick up next chapter, or possibly the one after, but pretty soon. **

**Review and tell me which characters you want to make appearances soon, because there are a lot of opportunities coming up. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ahh, I'm so sorry this took so long... I sort of just skipped last weeks update because this thing just didn't want to be written, damnit. Well it's longer than usual! I said they'd get longer, didn't I? Warning for a bit of language, and enjoy~**

* * *

Victoria was dreaming.

_A dream inside a dream? _she thought, and, in her ephemeral state of mind, the thought was amusing rather than disturbing, as it normally would have been.

She was floating outside of her body, watching herself sleep in the guest bedroom of the Hatter's house. Her mouth was open slightly and she had her pillow in a vice-like grip. Despite that, she looked peaceful.

Tori smiled before turning and breezing out of the room, going straight through the wall and ending up on the other side. As it normally happens in dreams, everything was slightly altered in a way, the hallway twisting in a way it normally wouldn't and much too long. However, she drifted down it serenely, content to just wait and see where the dream took her.

She went down the stairs and into the kitchen, where she noticed Arthur and Alfred sitting at the table reading what looked like a letter, both wearing worried expressions. However, she kept moving, out through the wall, past the yard, which still had the remains of a tea party, and into the forest. She could still hear the noises of the fairies crafting their weapons, and the ghostly lights penetrating the dark trees helped her see where she was going.

She didn't know when she first realized that she was being _pulled. _Something deep in her core was drawing her toward an unidentified something, which she quickly forgot about when she finally glided out of the forest.

The sensation of floating down a dream hill is not one easily described. It's a mix of pleasant detachment combined with the sort of feeling of falling in slow motion that you can never really experience when you're awake. Victoria breathed in, and the night air was sweet, somehow.

Soon the hill ended and merged into a town, with stone buildings and cobbled roads. The streets were sleeping, and nothing was moving except a cat that seemed to watch her from the shadows between two buildings, yellow eyes alight with curiosity.

After what seemed like forever, she finally left the town, wafting onto a path paved with pristine white bricks. Though this path led up a much larger hill than before, she felt nothing in terms of strain. Eventually she wandered through the gates and into the courtyard of a giant castle.

Despite the way the grounds outside the castle walls were well kept, the castle itself was a different story. The towering stone walls were covered in scorch marks, once regal banners were hanging in tatters, and sections of the wall seemed to be crumbling off. There were also many things scattered about the court yard, many of which looked suspiciously like bones, and Victoria was glad that she was unable to stop.

The castle, once she entered, was no better than the court yard. In fact, she would consider it worse, due to the unfortunate presence of the bodies.

There were corpses at intervals in various states of death, some looking quite fresh, while others looked as though they had been rotting for weeks. Victoria willed herself to move faster, and found that she did, in fact, have a small bit of control over herself, limited to changing her speed and turning her head.

As she journeyed deeper into the castle, she began to hear strange, disconnected noises. There were bouts of insane laughter followed by muffled screams that were quickly silenced with some rather sickening sound effects, soft, crooning voices and anguished whispers. Still, she traveled on.

When she reached a dead end, her body began to rise up into the ceiling, and she passed countless floors with perfectly round rooms until she reached the very top, which had a pointed ceiling. The difference between this room and the rest of them was that this one was occupied by two people.

The first was chained to the wall by his wrists and ankles and glaring balefully up at the other figure, his blue eyes full of hate. He looked ragged and worn, and Victoria couldn't tell what color his hair was because of the amount of dirt and soot in it.

The other figure was quite different. His pastel clothes were neatly pressed and clean of all signs of filth, and his strawberry blonde hair, though unruly, was clean and well groomed. His figure was somewhat familiar, though Victoria couldn't tell how because she could only see his back.

"Given up now, have you?" he purred, leaning in as close to his prisoner's face as he possibly could without actual contact. "You're going to tell us now, right? Or else you won't be able to eat the very special cupcakes I made for you, and that would make me sad. You wouldn't like me sad," he said, his sugary voice laced with a very clear threat.

"I've already told you, we don't have her," growled the other, his voice frustrated, as though he'd had this conversation before.

"I know you sensed it when she came into this world," said the captor, abandoning all sweet pretexts. "Now _tell _me where you're keeping her, or it will be your brother and that little friend of yours in chains next."

"N-no!" The prisoner struggled against the chains, but his wrists were already raw and bleeding. "No, please—" He was cut off by a fit of coughing.

"I'll be generous and give you, say, three more days? To reconsider your answer, I mean," the strawberry blonde said, and then turned around so Victoria could see his face.

He was almost identical to Arthur, except his eyes were a mess of pink and blue and his clothes were much frillier. The most startling physical difference, though, was his expression.

He was wearing a grin that she couldn't even _picture _on the real Arthur, twisted and sadistic. That disappeared, however, when he suddenly stilled and narrowed his eyes in her direction.

If she hadn't been in her dream state, she would have panicked. As it was, though, she stayed still, and, after a long moment, he shook his head and walked out of the room, looking deeply unsettled.

The bound figure hung his head, moaning in frustration now that there was no one around to see him do it (or so he thought).

Victoria's surroundings began to fade, and she felt herself being separated from the dream. She zoomed back the way she came, much faster than the original journey, being pulled back toward her body. As she entered her room, she thought she caught a glimpse of something in the corner of the room, but she couldn't be sure, she was moving too fast—

She awoke with a start, sitting up straight, turning to see something dark swing out the window in a flash.

Victoria was frozen for the longest time, not quite knowing what to do. It was just a dream, just a dream, just a dream within a dream, but she'd never had a dream _that _vivid. She remembered every detail, from the roofing on the houses to the blood splatters on the castle walls to the freckles on the alternate Arthur's face.

_Freckles. _

She got out of bed, her legs feeling very stiff, and she noticed that she didn't feel at all rested, even though the sun was just rising over the tree tops. She looked warily out the window, trying to spot movement. The yard was still.

She rinsed her face in little wash room, before putting on her clothes from yesterday, slipping on her Tuners, and tying her hair ribbons in place.

When she slipped out the door of the bedroom, she was half afraid that the hall would once again be warped, but it was perfectly normal, paintings straight and carpet clean. Her footsteps were soft and muffled, and she peeked around corners before proceeding. She was looking for the kitchen, but she seemed to have gotten lost…

"Can I help you?"

With a shriek, she turned spun around and struck out, her fist making contact with something hard that fell to the ground.

"What the bleeding fuck was that for?" cried Arthur, seeming to forget that gentlemen didn't use such profane language in the presence of ladies.

"I'm sorry," squeaked Victoria, hands flying to her mouth. _Thiervoicesarethesameheirvoi cesarethesametheirvoicesaret hesame…._

He pulled himself to his feet, wincing slightly as he touched his nose. "It was a good punch, though," he admitted. "Why are you here, anyway?" he asked.

"I was looking for the kitchen but I got lost…" she was still in shock from his sudden appearance.

"Are you okay?" he asked, noticing that her face was abnormally pale.

"Oh, I'm f-fine!" she said, much too brightly.

Arthur gave her a searching look, but shook his head. "Let's get some breakfast then, shall we?"

When they located the kitchen (she had taken a wrong turn at the stairs), they found that Alfred was already up and about, preparing a large breakfast, much to Arthur's discontent. He grumbled for a bit, but shut up when a plate of steaming sausages and hash browns were set in front of him. Alfred seemed rather keyed up, his fluffy white tail and ears twitching nervously.

"Is anything the matter, Alfred?" asked Arthur, who had noticed his agitation.

Alfred looked up, slightly startled. "Don't… don't you remember? Mattie's coming!" He yelped as he knocked over a bottle of oil.

Arthur paused in his chewing. "…who?"

"Matthew? The Red Rabbit? Our _brother?" _said Alfred with the air of a man who was used to such occurrences.

"Wait…" said Victoria, saving Arthur from an awkward response. "_Our _brother? Like… _both _of your brother?"

"Yeah, Artie's (_"Arthur.") _my big bro, Peter's out adopted little brother, and Mattie's my twin. He lives in the Red Kingdom, so I don't get to see him that often. But he's coming today, so you get to meet him! He's totally awesome!" His eyes were shinning in anticipation.

"How many kingdoms are there?" asked Tori, frowning. She'd never thought that a place like this would have any form of organized government.

"Two," said Arthur, whose blush had faded. "Red and White. We're part of the White Kingdom, but he was taken away to join the Red Court when he was seven." He nodded into his tea, flipping through a few pieces of yellowish paper.

"Why was he taken away?" asked Victoria, horrified at the idea. And they seemed so _cool _with it.

"He had a red mark," sighed Alfred. The light in him seemed to dim as he explained. "In this place, if you're born with a black birthmark, you join the White Court, and if you're born with a red birthmark, you join the Red Court, no matter where you were born or who your family is. It's a sacred rule and it hasn't yet been broken, to my knowledge. They gave us Peter, though," he added, as though this helped anything. It might have, for all she knew. She felt very sympathetic towards these unknown people, for being taken from their families and thrust into new surroundings at an early age.

"Ah! I forgot about the pancakes!" cried Alfred, the subject at hand seemingly forgotten as he set about making them. "Matt'd kill me if I forgot about those," he said, scrambling around for the ingredients. She was going to offer her assistance, but he seemed to take up the whole work space, and she felt she'd only be in the way.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and Arthur stood to answer it. There were three people standing in the doorway, two wearing official looking reed uniforms, and the third, who had crimson rabbit ears, dressed identically to Alfred, though his clothes were all red.

"Come in, gentlemen," said Arthur, his manner suddenly business-like as he escorted them to the kitchen. "I trust you had an easy journey?"

Before anyone could respond, Alfred launched himself at his fellow rabbit man, with a cry of "MATTIE!"

"Urgh, Al, get off!" he cried, and Victoria noticed that his voice was very quiet. "It's great to see you too," he said, smiling as he twirled a bit of hair around his finger.

"Hey Toris, Feliks," grinned Alfred, his nervousness put aside. "I made pancakes! Oh, and look! This is Alice!" Alfred gestured toward her.

"Call me Tori," she said, _again. _

"Oh my gosh, that totally sounds like Toris, doesn't it?" gasped the blonde soldier, his green eyes widening as he looked from his friend to Victoria.

"Yeah, it does," said the brown haired one, extending his hand toward her. "Excuse me, I'm Toris Laurinaitis, and this is Feliks Łukasiewicz, knights of the Red Court. Pleased to meet you."

"You mentioned you had something important to tell us in your letter, didn't you?" asked Arthur over his tea cup.

Matthew turned from where he had been resisting his brother's affection, his brow creased. "Yes. It appears that the White King has been captured."

The tea cup crashed to the table.

"W-what?" spluttered Arthur, standing without a glance at the shattered china. "_Ludwig? _I—but—he—how?" he finished.

"We don't know," said Toris. "The day before yesterday he was nowhere to be seen, and we found this on his bedroll," said pulling out a square box from his satchel. He opened it, and when the peered inside, they saw…

A cupcake?

A cupcake, beautifully decorated with pink frosting and silver sprinkles sat in the box, with a smiley face written in black icing.

* * *

Arthur was, to say the least, shocked.

He spent the rest of breakfast in clothes soiled with tea, conversing with Alfred and Matthew. Names like "Gilbert" "Feliciano" and "Kiku" were flying around, and Victoria was confused.

Toris leaned over and gave her a sympathetic smile. "Confused?" he asked.

She nodded. "I haven't been here long, and no one's told me anything except that I'm important for some reason," she sighed picking half-heartedly at a strawberry. "I don't know what they expect me to do, or how I'm expected to do it. I want to go home." She cupped her neck in her hand and stared glumly down at the wooden table top.

"You know, I felt the same way when I was taken to the Red Court," said Toris unexpectedly. "I was born in the White Kingdom, and the Red Kingdom was so different from my home. But my two adopted brothers, Eduard and Raivis, helped me settle in and feel welcome, along with Feliks here, who eventually became my best friend. But I realized that it wasn't such a bad place after all, and I stopped missing my old home." He popped a chunk of pineapple into his mouth. "Maybe you'll start to feel the same."

Victoria found his words oddly comforting, and took them to heart. What was there to miss about her old home, anyway? A cold orphanage, a strict headmistress, _terrible _food…

Who knew? Maybe she'd warm to this strange new world yet.

* * *

**A/N: So there's Lithuania as requested, and Poland for good measure. They'll be staying throughout the next chapter and possibly the one after. Yaay. If you have any questions about this AU, feel free to hit me up in a review or PM, because I've developed this story world a lot more than I thought I would, so I've though of a lot of things... Hope you liked. **

**Review~**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Since this is the second time in a row I've skipped a week, I'm going to have to change this to biweekly. School's here, and I just don't have as much time to write. :/ Sorry this is so short. :(**

**In other news, I have a fic dedicated to me! It's called In Which I Wish, by Harriet-Potter3399, and you should all go check it out. **

**Enjoy~**

* * *

Victoria tried to convince them that her regular clothes were fine, thank you very much, but Feliks wouldn't hear of it.

"_Trust _me, girl, when I'm done with you, you're going to look _fabulous,_" he said, leading her back to her bedroom, with a small entourage trailing after them.

"I don't think 'fabulous' is really what we're looking for, Fels," said Toris, smiling despite himself.

"We can't let her stand out, like she would in her Upperworld clothing," said Arthur, nodding, but Feliks paid them no mind. He set his bag (which was a bit bulkier than those of his companions) on the bed, and began removing clothing, frilly dresses in every shade of the rainbow, and accessories to compliment them.

Victoria was in shock. Why, _why _did he travel with those things? It wasn't as if _he _had any use for them. Unless he sold them, of course. Yes, that was probably why…

"Feliks…" sighed Toris, shaking his head. "I told you to bring only one or two…"

"I like, totally couldn't leave my babys behind like that!" he said, clutching them to his chest protectively. "But let's get down to business! I like, totally think that pink would be the best choice," he said, nodding sagely.

"Nonsense," said Arthur, frowning. "Her ribbons are red. Green would look much more handsome."

"Dude, red is like, totally the way to go!" laughed Alfred.

"I rather like the—" began Matthew, but he was interrupted by their arguing.

"Pink like, always makes everything better."

"I _told _you, the green would complement her skin tone."

"You guys have like, no idea what you're talking—"

"GUYS."

They looked around at her sudden shout, Arthur having the decency to at least look slightly chastened.

"I think I can pick for myself, thanks," she said firmly. "Leave so I can change."

They filed out, Toris muttering a quick apology on his way.

"That was like, totally her Alice voice," whispered Feliks in awe as he left.

"Remember, choose the re—" Alfred began, but Victoria slammed the door.

She felt a bit bad for yelling, but pushed it aside quickly as she focused on the matter at hand. There were at least ten of them, and almost all of them were exactly the opposite of what she wanted: obtrusive.

_But who knows, in this world? _she thought. She pushed them around, specifically ignoring anything pink, green, or red, and she wasn't feeling very hopeful until she chanced upon a flash of pale blue, her favorite color. She extracted it from the pile, and was pleased with what she found.

It was simply cut, and the poofy skirt ended at the knee. It had an apron that tied at the back, and the sleeves were short. The fabric looked comfortable, and it seemed as though it would be easy to move in.

She quickly changed, and examined herself in the full length mirror. She looked older, she thought.

She cracked open the door, and they came flooding back in. Feliks looked her over with a critical eye, adjusting the apron and handing her matching blue and white stripped stockings, before declaring her perfect.

As they trooped back to the kitchen, Toris was telling her about their upcoming journey. "We're going to take you into town for supplies, and for a few errands I have to run, and then we're going to escort you to the Resistance Headquarters," he explained. "When we're in town, though, we can't let anyone know who we are, especially _you," _he warned. "Keep your head low and your Tuners covered, and you'll be fine."

"Oh dude, I can't wait for you to see our town!" said Alfred, hearing their conversation. "This one hasn't been messed up too badly, since there's only been one raid and it was pretty light, not like the others. It's really cool, the shops are full of stuff you can't find anywhere else! Like, there's this one lady that…" he prattled on about his home town, using animated hand gestures to illustrate the scene for her, and she could almost picture it. A quaint little town, full of life and laughter, with little versions of Alfred and Arthur…

"Alright, are we all ready to go?" asked Toris, who had since changed into casual clothing, looking around to make sure everyone was accounted for. Alfred and Arthur were going to conduct some business concerning the transport of a mysterious object referred to only as "the Item," as well as making some inquiries about the mysterious and slightly disturbing cupcake, and they were going to meet them at the Resistance in a few days.

Victoria was excited, to say the least. She was beginning to get used to this world, and, while she was apprehensive about what was to come, she was eager to see the rest of this place, and couldn't wait to get going. "We're all ready!" she said brightly.

"Wait!" said an unfamiliar voice, and little footsteps were heard just before a door at the top of the stairs burst open, and out came a little blonde boy, carrying a bulging backpack. "I'm going with you!" he declared, stomping his foot on the kitchen tile.

Arthur in what appeared to be frustration. "Victoria, this is my little brother, Peter," he said, his voice resigned.

Peter peered at her curiously. "Are you Alice?" he asked. Without waiting for her to answer, he turned to his brothers. "As a member of the Resistance, I've gota go to protect Alice from the Evil!" he said, puffing out his small chest.

"For the last time, Peter," snapped Arthur, "you are _not _a part of the Resistance! You're much too young, and you'd only get underfoot."

Peter sent him the filthiest glare Tori had ever seen on a child. "Jerk Arthur, you never let me have any fun," he pouted, before turning to Alfred. "You'll let me go, right Al? You love me, right?" he begged, his blue eyes wide and pleading. Alfred looked uncomfortable, caught between Arthur's warning glowers and Peter's puppy-dog eyes.

"I, uh, I don't know…" he said, backing up a bit.

Victoria crouched down in front of the boy. "Peter, if you come to protect me, then who's going to protect the house from the Evil?" she asked, well aware of the magical barriers shielding the property.

"I… well…" he said, fidgeting and looking at the ground.

"There are so many different types of jobs that need to be done, especially during a time of war," she explained gently. "Even if it may not be the most exciting of jobs, it's still just as important, and somebody needs to do it. Everyone has a role to play."

"Okay…" he muttered, not looking up.

"You'll be the man of the house while your brothers are away, so make sure it's still in one piece when they come back, okay?" she said, standing and ruffling his hair.

"I will!" he said, looking up at her with a fierce determination in his eyes.

"Elizaveta will be over in an hour," warned Arthur, checking his watching. "Be good," he added sternly.

"I'll be the best man of the house you've ever seen! I'll be even better than you!" he said boldly.

"That's good to hear," said Arthur, a small smile passing over his lips.

* * *

"That was a good thing you did, Victoria," said Toris as they walked through the forest.

"I don't like it when families argue," she said, folding her hands behind her head and looking up at the canopy of leaves, wishing that just a little bit of sky could permeate it and lift the darkness.

"The Alice's job is, first and foremost, keeping the peace. I think you're doing an excellent job so far," he said as they finally left the forest behind and entered what seemed to be an empty expanse of grassy hills.

"Thanks," she said, and she truly meant it. She had been trying not to think about the whole 'Alice' thing, but with Toris, she was put at ease.

"It's right up ahead, past this hill," called Matthew from up ahead, his smile sympathetic. The walk was long, and her feet were aching.

They approached the crest of the hill, and while she should have felt relief, all she felt was… apprehension. "Something's wrong," she said, and ran the rest of the way, ignoring the pain in her feet.

That was when she saw the smoke.

It rose from the sprawling town, turning the previously clear blue sky black as night, and she could hear the screams of the people as they ran from their burning homes, gathering as much as they could run with.

In the middle of it all was an enormous beast, feral red eyes peeking from under a low furry brow. Somehow, it seemed to sense them on the hill, and it looked up to see them. It let loose a roar that could be heard even by them, an uncurled it's wings, taking to the skies.

* * *

**A/N: Yaay! Cliffhanger foreshadowing action! **

**Review, my loves, and... that'll make you an amazing person and give you my eternal gratituded. What more could you want?**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I'M BACK ON TRACK, I SWEAR. From now on I'll have at least the next two chapters prewritten before I post. I'm fully reinvested and I won't have any more random hiatuses. Right, it's late and I've been reading a lot of Country x Reader fics lately, so if I accidently say 'you' instead of 'she' or something, tell me, as well as other mistakes and stuff. I'd really appreciate it. I hope you like this chapter, things start speeding up. I'll go back tomorrow and read through it and edit, but I'm tired right now and I really wanted to post. So enjoy~**

* * *

The beast was still a long way off, and she took advantage of the opportunity to run down the hill at break neck speed, with only one thought running through her mind.

_I have to do something._

"Victoria, come back!"

She heard the voice, but she kept on running, pigtails flying behind her.

_I have to do something. _

She reached the bottom of the hill, and suddenly she was running on cobblestone, swerving to avoid burning buildings and clusters of people. The people were everywhere, swarming, children clutching to their mother's skirts and sobbing, men sporting broken arms or legs or gruesome burns, and they were screaming, their panicked and grieving and desperate voices all sending the same message:

_Some one save us. _

She had to be that one.

She stopped and surveyed her surroundings.

Other than people, she noticed, there were… things. She wanted to call them animals, but the word just wouldn't suffice.

There were creatures with the heads of foxes but the bodies of birds, a cat that could move like a monkey from roof top to roof top, and, if she wasn't mistaken, a little goat with the teeth of a shark, tearing into a pile of bloody flesh that she decided not to inspect too closely.

Victoria shivered, fully realizing the severity of her rash actions. She had separated herself from the rest of the group, and, as the only weapons she had on her were her Tuners and her limited knowledge in magic, she was out matched by pretty much anything that decided to come her way.

She decided to steer clear of that goat.

She began traveling at a significantly slower pace, scolding herself for being so stupid, while keeping an eye out for her companions. She could hear the roars of the giant flying monster, muffled by the buildings and the clamor of the streets, but when she looked up to try to catch a glimpse of it, she was startled to come face to face with a boy, hanging upside down from an awning in front of a store that was unharmed as of yet.

_Man _might be a better adjective, though his face had a childish quality about it. Even so, something made her stop and stare at him. It was nothing about his physical appearance; his hair was an ordinary shade of brown, and his most remarkable features must have been a gravity-defying curl and his striking violet eyes. No, it was something else. Something she could _feel. _

Something that made her very afraid.

"_Ciao, bella!" _he said, a smile curling from his lips as he rolled off the building with inhuman grace.

Victoria began to back away, but her ankle came into contact with something soft, and her head jerked around. The carnivorous goat was back, and it had brought friends. They surrounded her, a grotesque army of bloodstained mutants that herded her closer to the man.

"You're the one they call Alice, right?" he asked, stretching leisurely as he surveyed the damaged street and the area around them that was quickly clearing of people who had fled the moment they saw him. Smart people, she sensed. She remained still, not responding, barely daring to breathe even as a shark-goat nipped at her leg.

"Come now, _ragazza. _It's a simple question." She couldn't say where it came from, but suddenly there was a knife in his hand, a six inch switch blade that he was flipping in his hand like it was nothing more than a harmless toy. _Flip. _"You're her, right?" _Flip. _"The one they've all been going _on _and _on _about." _Flip. _"The one they want me to deliver the message to."

That caught her interest, and, after a split second, she nodded.

"_Che meraviglia__!_ " he said, his smirk twisting. "First time's the charm, right? But, I've always had a _sense, _you know." His eyes laughed, mocking her as they enjoyed a private joke.

"What do you want from me?" asked Victoria, her voice less powerful than she would have liked. _I sound like a child. _Her heart was pounding, and she could taste blood in her mouth from where she had bitten her cheek.

"You know, I went to visit you the other day, but you were so _boring," _he complained, still flipping the blade, catching it alternately by the steel and by the wood. Steel, wood. Steel, wood. She kept her eyes focused on it as she tried to slow her heart beat. "Just sleeping, and muttering to yourself, something about white and pink," he continued.

"What message do you have for me?" she asked, still not looking at him, and her voice was stronger.

"Heh," he laughed, and she glanced at him curiously, instantly regretting it as her heart beat accelerated once again at those amethyst eyes. "Here it is," he said, reaching into his waist coat and removing an envelope. She could see silver embossed on the pink surface, just under the rather garish ribbon that adorned it. "Won't you come and get it?" he asked, holding it aloft between two fingers.

She didn't want to take the steps and bridge the distance, at all. She didn't want to move an inch closer to him.

_Remember, Victoria? This is only a dream._

_That's right,_she thought. Just a dream, she'd wake up eventually in her own bed.

She took a step, and then another.

She snatched the envelope out of his hand, but he caught her wrist and pulled her close, so close that their noses were almost touching, and brought his blade to her cheek. He ran the edge along her skin, just brushing at first, before he sliced it.

It was quick and shallow, but she gasped at the sudden pain. He didn't release her until he had licked the bead of blood from the steel, watching her the whole time.

"I can taste it in your blood," he said, letting go of her now bruised wrist as she stumbled backward. "I can taste the Other." He looked her up and down once more, before looking away and flicking his wrist. "Go, run back to your little friends," he said.

And so she did.

* * *

"Ah, nice work Feli!"

"I thought I asked you not to call me that," said Feliciano, rubbing the bridge of his nose. That had been fun, scaring the girl. _Her, the Alice? _he thought scathingly. _Not likely. _

But now his brother was here to ruin it…

"You know, I don't know how you stand all that _blood," _said Lovino, wrinkling his nose under his sun glasses. "It's so… filthy."

"Yes, you've made that quite clear," he said, leaning down to pet one of his goats. They had been his special creation, and Arthur had let him breed them for war. They'd been an immense success.

"Well, in any case, we have to report back to Arthur, now that our job's done." Lovino stood delicately on the porch of the abandoned store front, so as not to scuff his shoes.

Feliciano looked up in irritation. "_We? Our?" _he asked, scowling. It was always he who did the heavy lifting, and Lovino who mooched off of his work.

"Calm down, brother dear," said Lovino, lowering his glasses to get a better look at his brother. "I'll tell Artie all about the great job you did, and then you can talk to that scar covered freak of yours down in the labs."

Ah. Now he remembered why he always let him get away with this. "Let's get on with it, then," he said, striding off into the carnage, not bothering to make sure his brother was following.

* * *

Victoria tripped, her foot catching in the uneven stone as she tried to put as much distance behind her and the man as possible. Her stocking ripped and her knee was bloodied, but she rose and kept running, trying not to limp. She had to find the others, she had to deliver the message and warn them about how the creatures listened to the man, and she had to deliver the message. It was clutched in her hands in a death grip, and she paid no mind to the blood and dirt she stained it with.

She found herself at the center of the town, right around a large central building, when she heard it.

"_Alice!" _

She looked up, overjoyed, expecting to see her friends, but every face was a strange one. Except…

Peter?

There was blood pouring from his side as he pulled at his leg, trying to pull it out from under a long, heavy beam that had caught on fire at the far end and was quick approaching.

She ran to him, calling out his name, not pausing to wonder how he had got here so fast when they had left him at the house.

Just when she had reached them, she heard it, a sound that she had forgotten to listen for in all the confusion.

The roar of the flying monster, a lot closer than it should have been.

She turned to see it on a nearby roof top, facing away from her as it battled with something else. She heard the voices of the Red Knights shouting for her. "Matthew! Toris! I'm over here!" she called.

"Alice, you've gota help me!" sobbed Peter. The fire was only a few feet away, and the heat was searing them both.

"I-I'm trying!" she said, but her mind was a haze of panic and she didn't know what to do.

Peter looked behind her, eyes wide, and screamed. Victoria turned.

The monster had caught sight of her, it was watching her with the poise to strike.

She swiveled back toward the little boy. "Look," she said quickly, her mind beginning to clear. "I'm going to—" but she stopped talking, for Peter had just grinned a rather alarming grin, before melting away right before her eyes.

Before she even had a chance to wonder what had happened, a dark shadow was upon her. She looked up to see the beast right above her, and there was nothing she could do but scream.

* * *

**A/N: Again, I'll probably go oer this chapter and edit it. If I change a lot of the actual plot of the chapter, then I'll delete and repost, but I doubt I will. **

**So tired... I'll sleep and hope to find reviews in the morning. Good night. 3 **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So, I totally forgot to mention last chapter that I'm borrowing Flying Chocolate Bunny and Cupcake the cat from the popular blog ask-2p-england dot tumblr dot com. The owner's FAQs said that writing for any of her characters was okay, and I PM'd her anyway to inform her, so I'm not stealing anything. It's an amazing blog, by the way. However, all of the 2P characters in this fic are my interpretation. **

**In any news, I'm uploading this from Atlanta, Georgia. They have a giant Lady Rainicorn in the CNN Center, which is pretty awesome. **

**Well, I'm really, really not happy with this chapter at all…**

Victoria couldn't quite grasp the concept of intangibility.

She saw what was happening, her form disappearing in the split second before the beast tried to sink its claws into her flesh. She felt only a tingling as it landed on her, not the crushing pain she expected. She experienced it all, but she didn't understand.

She couldn't see anything anymore, her vision consumed by black as she struggled to move, but to no avail. She couldn't breathe, and her lungs were crying out for oxygen.

Suddenly the blackness was gone, and she had a view of the village once again. The monster was hissing and screaming as it cringed back from the line of soldiers, bolts and bullets striking it over and over again. She tried to go to them, but she found that she was still paralyzed.

They were losing, she thought. The beast was far enough away that many of their shots fell short, and its long ears twitched in a way that led her to believe that it could hear every shot and predict where it would land. Then, something incredible happened.

It stopped fighting, growing as still as she was before it began to curl in on itself. It spasmed as it grew slowly smaller, its shrieks of pain growing fainter and fainter until it they finally receded altogether.

She thought they had it, then, while it lay curled upon the ground, helpless. The soldiers approached it cautiously, but Toris, who had taken the lead, held his up his hand for them to stop. "Wait…"

A light appeared on its fur, and it spread, engulfing the creature.

_Fire._

Smoke rose, fast, faster, and soon there was nothing left of it at all.

She found that she could move again, and that she could see her legs in front of her as she half ran, half limped to the scene. The air shimmered and bent, taking the shape of Matthew, standing above the ashes. "It will be back," she heard him saying as she approached. He raised his voice, addressing the rag tag group that had gathered around. "Gather your dead under the clock tower and bring the injured to any building large enough to shelter them," he said, and it was then she remembered the pain in her leg and she looked down to see a bloody mess. Victoria averted her eyes from it quickly as a cold sweat broke out on her brow.

"Victoria, let me help you," said Toris, who approached her just as her knees gave out. She leaned on his shoulder as spots appeared on the edges of her vision.

"What happened?" she asked. The last few minutes were already blurring into a mess of blood and fire in her mind, and she tried in vain to sort out her thoughts. She couldn't have _really _been able to walk through things, of course, because that was crazy and impossible.

Just like so much else…

"Matthew used a spell on you. _His _spell, actually. It temporarily separates your particles and makes you able to go through solid objects and invisible to the naked eye. It saved your life," he said seriously, as he set her down on the grass to examine her leg.

"Why did the… the thing… why did it shrink?" she asked.

"This is the twenty-third location it's attacked in three months, and the Resistance has developed techniques of subduing it," he explained as he dabbed a cloth with a funky smelling liquid that he produced from his bag. "There's a spot on the back of its head that causes it to… do that."

"I... I see," she said, even though she didn't, not really, but she remembered something. "Toris, while we were separated, I—OW!" she yelped, jerking her leg back as he pulled something out of a rather nasty cut on her leg.

"It's just a piece of glass," he said, smiling apologetically. "Just let me disinfect it…" He dabbed her leg with the liquid gently. It burned, but she grit her teeth and it subsided into a dull ache. "What were you saying?"

"I…" she hesitated ,wondering how to phrase her encounter. Instead, she offered her hand, which was still clutching the letter, though it was grubbier now than it had been.

He took it curiously, eyeing the silver script suspiciously. He sliced open the seal removed a single card.

Victoria watched as his face paled, turning the color of milk as his green eyes dashed across the card in alarm.

"Matthew," he called, and his normally level voice was constricted. "There's something you need to see."

Matthew, who had been conferring with Feliks and a White soldier with shaggy blonde hair and serious green eyes, looked over curiously, approaching to see what the matter was. Toris held the card out wordlessly, and Matthew's eyes widened as he examined it, his red ears twitching.

"You know she has to go," said Toris, wringing his fingers. "It's binding, you saw the seal."

"I… I don't know. I suppose we must, but she's not prepared…"

"What? What is it?" Victoria demanded.

They looked over at her, and the words that came from Matthew's mouth didn't match their grave expressions.

"Alice, it seems you've been invited to a ball."

**A/N: And there you have it, crappy chapter eight… gota post this before my laptop dies. Please review! I got literally nothing on the last chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I thought I had reached ten chapters and I was so excited, until I realized that the ninth one was requesting people to send suggestions for the poll… and since I didn't receive any, I have made an executive decision and decided not to post the poll. Fear not, though, for there will still be romance in this story, even though it will probably be an epic fail of a romance because I've never written one before. Also, I'm not sure how to indicate that the scene is focusing on 2p characters vs regular ones, so I'm counting on you to be able to tell the difference... But onto the (late) chapter, and happy (belated) Thanksgiving!**

**By the way, I've always imagined 2p!America with a huge potty mouth, so I've implemented that here.**

* * *

Arthur was hard at work, his electric blue eyes focused completely on the task at hand. Beads of sweat were beginning to form on his forehead. Years of practice had given him an unwavering hand, and he held it just-so. Precision was so important, and one false move could ruin the entire project.

Yes, making cupcakes was a difficult task indeed.

He had reached the last one, vanilla with sprinkles cooked into the batter, and the pink frosting was being laid down. Just a couple more swirls, and then he'd add sprinkles, or perhaps a dusting of powdered sugar—

"ARTHUR."

His hand jerked, sending a line of frosting straight across the edge and onto the tray. He froze, willing his hands not to tighten and release even more frosting, because he used his special recipe and He _wouldn't let Alfred ruin it, not again—_

The door banged open and in walked Alfred, a fierce scowl replacing his usual snarky expression. "What the _fuck _do you think you're doing?"

A vein began to throb in Arthur's forehead, so he set the tube of frosting on the counter to avoid further damage, and removed the (_ruined, destroyed) _fixable cupcake away from the rest. He forced a smile onto his face, as he was wont to do when he was feeling particularly murderous.

That should have been enough warning for Alfred, but he was too irritated to notice.

"I'm baking, of course. 'A day without cupcakes is like a day without sunshine!' Why don't you turn that frown upside down and try one?" He picked up a cupcake, feeling a bit better when there was an even number of them left on the tray. He held it out, the smile still in place.

Now, Alfred wasn't normally this oblivious. He had a knack for reading the atmosphere, and most times, he would be able to sense the menacing air coming from Arthur, and the evil radiating from the pink, sparkly cupcake. But he was having a bad week, and he was ticked off. He had lost his sense of judgment. He snatched the cupcake out of his hand.

"I don't know what the hell you think you're doing, wasting time making your prissy-ass snacks when we're in the middle of a _war—_WHAT THE _FUCK?" _he sputtered, choking on the cupcake, which he consumed in one bite, spitting chunks of it out on the previously spotless floor.

"Did you enjoy it?" asked Arthur, giddy with amusement, not even chastising Alfred for besmirching his floor.

"What the hell? That thing tasted like _blood._" He was retching, tears forming in the edges of his eyes as he tried to expel the part he'd already swallowed from his system.

"That's only the frosting," Arthur said. "The cake has actual flesh embedded in it! It's fresh, too, from that prisoner of ours. He's a Royal, so his fingers will always grow back."

"You're a sick bastard, you know that Artie? You know I don't eat meat, you know I think your experiments are disgusting—"

"And you know how much I dislike having you in my kitchen," said Arthur, his voice suddenly cold. "Now get out, before I force the one you ruined by barging in here _down your throat."_

Alfred, who's animalistic instincts always, always knew when to run away, retreated towards the door way. Oh, he would get his revenge, alright. But not now.

He left as Arthur gathered his cleaning supplies, forgetting to mention the reason he had intruded in the first place.

* * *

Tori was laying on her back in the bedroll, trying to fall asleep. It was just so _loud._

Her eyes were blood shot and sore, and she had reached the point of being too exhausted to fall asleep. She was on the floor of the Town Hall or whatever it was, and even though the injured were on the other side of the building, the hall was large and sound echoed. She could hear the moans that came with cuts and broken bones, and the crying of burnt children as they clung to the skirts of their mothers, if they were still there for them to cling to. The Healers were trying, Matthew among them, but there weren't many magic users in this community, and many of those that were needed attention themselves.

Victoria had wanted to help, but Matthew hadn't let her.

"You're inexperienced. Even with your Tuners and natural ability, making a fatal mistake is all too easy," he said, shaking his head before sending her off to find a comfortable piece of floor.

She had been laying there ever since, listening to the suffering and thinking about what she had seen after the battle.

They had gathered the dead (there seemed to be an endless amount) under the clock tower in the center of the square, and Matthew stood over them for five minutes, murmuring something she couldn't make out under his breath. Then, he set it on fire.

It only burned for about a minute until it was ash, and the smoke smelled curiously of incense, rather than charred flesh like she expected. She guessed that Matthew had cast a spell, and found herself wondering if that was how the people in this world normally disposed of their dead.

Victoria sighed, turning onto her side, facing away from the wounded. She closed her eyes as she did this, feeling as they tried to spring open from puffiness. They stung, and when she opened them again, she was met with an unexpected sight.

"Francis?"

"Ah, you remembered my name! I am flattered," he said, batting one of his ears. He was sitting on the floor next to her, cross legged. His tail swished from side to side.

"How did you get here?" she asked. Maybe she had closed her eyes for longer than she thought.

He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. "That's not important," he said. "I have come to you in secret to give you a warning."

"What kind of warning?" she asked, slightly wary. His voice was serious.

"The people you have met from the kingdoms of Red and White have seemed very friendly toward each other, non? The brothers Matthew and Alfred, so warm towards each other despite conflicting loyalties. That isn't always the case," he said.

"When I was fourteen years old, sweet little Matthew moved into my house. My parents, my sister, and I treated him like family. Even though he's moved to the Red Palace and I to the Fairy Wood, he is still and will always be my younger brother.

"Arthur, however, his _real_ brother, can't even be bothered to remember who he is, let alone acknowledge him as kin... because he is White, and Matthew is Red. For that, I can never forgive him. But the point is, even though we are united against the Evil, there is much discord amongst us. You must be careful who you befriend, lest you find yourself torn between allies."

He was gazing across the room, his expression full of fondness. Victoria glanced back, and saw that he was watching Matthew as he cared for an old woman, smiling at her in his gentle manner.

"I will leave you now, but please, ponder my words," he said, and then he was gone, leaving only scattered rose petals in his wake.

* * *

Arthur stormed into the infirmary, eliciting a squeak from Natalya, who nearly dropped her clipboard.

"Why wasn't I informed?" he demanded as he sat down next to the hospital bed, running a finger along the creature's furry ears. They twitched. That was a good sign.

"I—well, you were absent from the meeting, and they sent Alfred to tell you…" she looked uncertain, and Arthur felt a twinge of guilt for scaring her. He liked her; she was sweet tempered and _sane, _the only person in the castle who he could get any peace or quiet around, other than Gilbert. He smiled, and this time it came with no evil inflictions.

"I apologize for being so terribly rude," he said. "I like to make sure my pets are safe, is all. I can trust that he has received the best of care, with you here." Natalya was also the resident nurse. No one else could be trusted not to kill their patients.

Arthur glanced back down at Chocolate. He was in unusually bad shape; usually he came back with a few cuts and missing some fur, but now there was large burn running along the back of his left thigh. The fur had been sheered away from the affected area, which made the bandage uneven and lumpy.

"I'll leave you then," said Natalya, quietly exiting the room.

As she left, a cat snaked around the door, its tail whipping through just before it closed. It leapt onto Arthur's lap, curling up close to his pink sweater vest.

"Ah, Cupcake," he murmured, rubbing its ears and eliciting a purr. "What would I do without you?"

Cupcake looked at him, and flicked his tail.

Arthur laughed, and stood. "Yes, you're right. I'd be completely lost. Let's go visit the prisoner, shall we? I need more ingredients…"

* * *

Alfred and Arthur arrived the next morning, just after sun up.

Victoria wandered over to where they were discussing something with Matthew, their voices agitated whispers.

"She…we can't…dangerous…no other options…"

Her curiosity piqued, she tried to get a closer. However, Alfred noticed her first.

"Oh, hey Alice!" he said loudly, effectively diffusing the conversation.

"I—hello, Victoria," said Arthur, sending Alfred an irritated glance.

"We were just discussing travel plans," said Matthew.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"We're going straight to the Resistance in Beilschheim," said Arthur with a pointed glance toward Al.

"Oh really? I was under the impression that we had agreed to pass through Scandanaria," said Alfred brightly, his rabbit ears twitching in annoyance.

"Not again…" muttered Matthew, rubbing his forehead as the argument started up again.

"I told you, to get to Scanadanaria we have to pass through Red territory! We can't risk that!"

"They're our _allies,_ why does it matter? If we're going to send her to the ball, we need to—OW!"

He was cut off by a vicious stomp to the foot. "Shut up, fool!"

Again with the ball. No one would tell her what that was about.

"Don't worry about it," was all Toris had said, when she had asked.

"What's this ball about?" she asked, her heart sinking as she received the answer she half expected.

"Nothing you need to worry about now, love," said Arthur, laughing nervously.

She scowled, but said nothing.

Suddenly, they heard a noise from outside. It began as a low rumble, but it grew steadily louder until it ended with a loud _BAM._

It was followed by a booming laugh that was almost as loud.

Arthur had frozen, his eye twitching as he stared at the closed door.

It banged open, and in walked five men, all dressed in blue armor.

"Mathias, that wasn't very polite," scolded one, a blonde with warm brown eyes.

"Gotta make an entrance, don't I?" laughed Mathias. The his eyes fell upon the little group. "Oh, hey Artie! Got your call!"

"What did you do?" hissed Arthur, glaring at Alfred.

He laughed nervously, scratching his head. "Guess we don't have to go to Scandanaria now, right? Alice," he said, addressing her, "meet the N Five."

* * *

**A/N: Don't ask about the names of places… they're not that hard to figure out… I just tried to make them more Wonderlandy. XD And so the Nordics have arrived, and Cupcake the Cat has made an appearance.**

* * *

**IcarusWing stepped into the building, clutching her review jar tightly. She made a beeline for the front desk, and waited for the receptionist to look up.**

"**What can I do you for?"**

"**I'm interested in renting an apartment," she said.**

"**That's twenty reviews for the first month," said the receptionist, eyeing her jar skeptically.**

"**I've got that many!" smiled IcarusWing.**

"**Here's your paper work, then," said the receptionist, reaching under her desk and handing the delighted author a stack of paper.**

"**Ah, I never would have dreamed I'd be able to move my story into an apartment!" she said as she filled out the papers at a table in the corner of the lobby. "You know, I might even write a gift fic for the fiftieth reviewer, if I make it that far…"**

**20 reviews and proud. Love you all.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: This was supposed to be posted Sunday... It took me three and a half weeks to drag this chapter from my brain, and let me tell you, it didn't come without a fight. But yay! Real chapter 10!**

**So I'm going to have to switch updates from every two Thursdays to every two Sundays, because weekdays dislike me greatly, and, if everything works out, I'm going to post a chapter 10.5 next week, a holiday omake.**

**In other news, I'm only a couple of reviews away from half way to my goal of 50! And since I'll be giving my 50****th**** reviewer a one-shot (any theme, any pairing they want), you should all review more to get there faster, hehe~**

* * *

"C'mere, kitty! Alfie's got some nice—ow, fucking cat…"

Cupcake stared down at him as he licked the blood from his claws, his expression much too amused for a cat.

Alfred held up the treat—a super-tasty ultra-healthy veggie chip—and waved it in front of the cat once again as enticingly as he could. Cupcake's tail twitched, and his head leaned forward, only to nip at a finger before pulling away.

"Just hurry up and get down here, he's gonna be here soon…" muttered Alfred, glancing nervously toward the door. He knew how much Arthur disliked it when people invaded his personal space, and Alfred really, _really _didn't want to get caught.

Frankly, the room was disturbing. It looked as though someone had bashed Arthur's head in and the insides had spilled out onto the walls. There was so much pink he was practically blinded, with a cupcake themed bedspread and overstuffed pastel pillows. But that wasn't even the freaky part.

Interspersed throughout this pastry wonderland were some pretty weird things. There were maces and flails, chains, thumbscrews, and other contraptions that Alfred couldn't name or give a purpose too, though he knew they would all be unspeakably horrible.

"…yes, the attack on Francerta should proceed as planned…"

Uh-oh.

Arthur was on his way towards his room, and Alfred still hadn't gotten the damned cat yet.

He had to make a decision, and quickly. Revenge, or his life?

Life, definitely. He dove into the closet, and not a moment too soon.

He heard the door open and shut, and muffled footsteps on the fluffy pink carpet. "Oh, Cupcake," he heard him sigh. "Why are all my associates so useless?"

Hmph. He sure was one to talk.

"What's this?" he heard Arthur ask. "It almost looks as though…" Alfred held his breath. "Cupcake, have you been bringing food into the room again? Look at this mess, there are crumbs everywhere!"

Alfred hoped Arthur didn't notice that those crumbs were from his veggie chips.

"Come down here Cupcake, I have a treat for you." Alfred scowled as he heard the cat meow and hop down from a top the bookshelf. "D'you like that? I made it special."

The cat purred appreciatively as Alfred turned his head to the side in a pout. Seriously, it wasn't—

Well wasn't that interesting?

There, on the wall…

He'd make a note of that for later.

"Why do you do this to me, Alfred?"

"Hey, I said I was sorry, bro!"

"_That doesn't make a bloody difference."_

"C'mon, guys! Why're you fighting?" asked Mathias, slinging his arm over Arthur's, who put his head in his hand.

"This is what I was talking about. We're in a time of crisis, and he's _smiling…_" muttered Arthur.

"What's wrong with him?" whispered Victoria. Ever since the N Five, as they were called, had arrived, Arthur had been even more irritable than usual.

"He doesn't like Mathias very much," Alfred whispered back. Yeah. She got that much.

"Why not?" she asked, but before he could answer, Arthur stood up, his chair clattering behind him.

"Lukas, we have some things to discuss, if you would be so kind as to accompany me," he said stiffly to the apathetic man who, so far, was the only one who hadn't said a word to her.

"Hey, you should say whatever you have to say to me!" protested Mathias. "I'm the leader of the N Five!"

"We don't have a leader, Mathias," Tino reminded him cheerily.

"Yeah, but I'm the oldest so what I say goes."

"They argue a lot," sighed Alfred, who looked a bit guilty for some reason.

"What's wrong?" asked Tori. Alfred blushed.

"I—well—the ball's happening soon and even though Arthur said it would be fine and that even the Evil couldn't violate an Invitational Contract, I didn't want you to go unprotected. So I summoned them…" He trailed off, toying with his furry ear absent mindedly.

"But what _are _they?" she insisted, ignoring the rest of his sentence. Things were confusing enough already, and she had already accepted that she wasn't going to get many answers, particularly on the subject of this mysterious ball.

"We're the guardians of the Portals," said a voice to her left, and Victoria turned to find the youngest looking one, Emil. "Mathias thinks that just because he guards the Portal to the Upper World that he's the most important," he muttered. "We're made up of both White and Red citizens."

"What does that have to do with… with protecting me?" she asked. She hoped Alfred hadn't tried to hire her body guards. That would be embarrassing.

"What do you mean, _you don't have it?"_

They turned at the sound of Arthur's rising voice. "How do you _not have _our world's most sacred artifact?!" he yelled, his face red and his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Ask Mathias," said Lukas, whose stoic exterior remained intact.

Arthur turned slowly to face to large knight, who had risen. "Well?" he asked quietly, making it all the more menacing.

"H-hey, easy there buddy!" he said nervously, holding his hand sin front of him as if to ward off any impending attacks.

"_Well?!"_

"Look, it wasn't my fault!" he protested. "They came in the middle of the night, and you know how powerful they are!"

Arthur paled. "What are you saying?"

Mathias laughed anxiously. "Well, it happened about a month ago… It was just after the attacks on Scandanaria, and I wasn't at my best. But the Evil, two of them came… Feliciano and Lovino's counterparts. I tried to fight them off, to call for help, but the others were at the infirmary, and…" He came to a stop, his eyes far off and full of a guilt that he would never outwardly display.

Arthur's knees seemed to quaver as he barked out a laugh. "Well isn't this great. Isn't this just fucking _smashing," _he snarled. "Do you realize what this means? We will never, ever win this war without that sword. _Never. _We may as well just put Feliciano's white flags to use and surrender."

"We h've a pl'n."

"Excuse me?" asked Arthur, who was surprised enough to forget his rage for a moment.

"We have a plan," said Berwald, more clearly.

"As Alfred said, they wouldn't ignore the Invitational Contract," said Tino. "We're going to use the ball as an opportunity to retrieve it."

"And how's that?" snorted Arthur, not convinced. "D'you expect her to just waltz in and pick it up? I suppose you want her to rescue the King as well?" he laughed.

"Actually, yes," smiled Tino, oblivious to his sarcasm.

"No!" said Alfred suddenly. "It's too dangerous. She doesn't even have a weapon."

"You said you equipped her with Tuners, didn't you?" asked Lukas.

"Yeah, but she barely knows anything!" Victoria frowned. She knew _some _things, and she practiced when she could. There just hadn't been much time lately.

"I want to do it," she said. She was tired of them making decisions for her.

"Alice, but—" Alfred began, his brow furrowed, but she put a hand up.

"No. If I'm here to help you guys win this war, I want to do it however I can. Just tell me what I have to do and I'll do it." Oddly enough, she found herself wanting this not only to get home sooner, but because she genuinely felt for these people. She wanted to stop the bloodshed.

"Are you sure?" asked Arthur, who looked as though he was trying not to hope for the best.

"Yes," she said firmly. "I… I want to be this Alice that you're looking for."

Tino smiled gently. "Then you've already taken the first step."

Alfred took a deep breath. "I'm coming with you, then. We'll go to this ball together, or not at all."

* * *

**A/N: And there you have it, depressingly short and probably missing lots of characters… however, there has been a significant amount of plot development. Yay…**

**The other day I found a web comic about personified nations that has nothing to do with Hetalia. My mind was blown. It's at satwcomic dot com. It's so… not like Hetalia…**

**So who'd be interested in a holiday omake?**


	11. Chapter 105

**A/N: Hello there~ This is an extra chapter, showing the most important holiday in Wonderland, Augusteenth, which takes place on August 16****th****, exactly a year before Victoria came to Wonderland. Just a note, the positions King and Queen have nothing to do with gender or relationships. It's a business partnership. And because of the fact that children with marks that aren't the same as their kingdom's are moved to the other kingdom at seven years old, the families are a bit confusing. I've drawn a map showing who moved to which family, and I'm going to post it on deviantART when I find out how to hook up my scanner. So hold tight until then!**

* * *

_Twelve months ago_

"Alfie, where'd you put the apple juice?"

"I saw Artie carrying it to the main hall a little while ago."

"Peter, it's almost time for the feast, go find out where Gilbert ran off to..."

"Alright!"

The old castle was bustling with activity. Citizens of both the Red and White kingdoms were traveling from floor to floor, delivering messages, fetching ingredients, or bringing food out to the dining area. The feast would begin in fifteen minutes, and the entire Resistance was in disarray.

Arthur hurried down a stone corridor, trying to write with the smallest handwriting possible. Paper was hard to come by these days, but having a checklist was essential if he wanted everything to be perfect for the feast, and, of course, it had to be. Even in this time of crisis, the White Kingdom had to do their utmost to impress their crimson clothed guests.

Quite a few Reds had sought refuge on their side of the wall, including the Royal family. The attacks had begun a month and a half ago, catching Wonderland in a rare time of peace. Even within the castle, tensions were high, but not today.

No, today was Augusteenth, the day where all weapons were discarded and they were not people of Red or White, simply of Wonderland.

"Alfred, Maxwell, quite dilly dallying and bring in the Jub Jub. It's almost time for the King's speech," he said, entering the kitchen.

"Ah, it's Matthew..." said the weary Red Rabbit, but no one heard him over Alfred's yelp.

"It's that late?" he exclaimed, rising in a panic. "C'mon, Mattie, what're you waiting for?"

Matthew released a long suffering sigh. "Alright, calm down..."

"And _where_ is that good for nothing feline?" scowled Arthur.

"I'm right here, _mon amour_. Did you miss me?" purred Francis, appearing right behind the irate Hatter and snaking his arms around his waist.

"Don't bloody touch me!" he seethed, slapping his hands away. "You have a job, you know. Get to it."

"Who put you in charge?" asked Francis, feigning hurt at his rejection.

"No one else was up to it. Now go fetch your dignitaries, they were supposed to be in the main hall ten minutes ago." Arthur turned back to his checklist, scribbling away. There was so much to do, and so little time...

"Ah, but aren't you supposed to be doing the same thing? Where is _cher_ Gilbert?"

Arthur's scribbling stopped as he froze. "Oh dear," was all he said before he ran from the room.

"Francis, that wasn't nice," sighed Matthew, propping up his glasses. "You know we sent Peter to find him, and Arthur's already out straight."

Francis laughed. "It was all in the good spirit of Augusteenth. Besides," he said, a grin befitting the original Cheshire Cat creeping onto his face. "We needn't tell him that the feast is starting in an hour."

* * *

"Hello, Peter-kun. Are you looking for the Queen?"

"Mattie told me to bring him to the dining hall," said Peter, rocking back and forth on his heels as he stood in Gilbert's solar. "Did you get me a gift, Kiku?" he asked, his eyes shining in anticipation.

"Of course," he said with a small smile. He had always been fond of Arthur's little brother. "It's already on the Pyre."

"Cool!" he said. "I hope jerk Arthur hates it."

"I would never make you something that your brother would disapprove of," sighed Kiku. "That would be ill mannered."

"Hmph," hmphed Peter. "I bet Gil made me something awesome!" he cried, and proceeded to run up to the large double doors at the end of the room. "Gilbert!" he yelled as he knocked. "Gil, c'mon! The feast is gonna start without you!"

The door opened a crack, and a white haired head poked itself through. "Kesesesese, can you keep a secret, kid?" he asked, bending down to Peter's level.

"Of course," he said impatiently.

"The feast doesn't start for another hour. We just like watching good old Artie run around." He let out another bout of his strange laughter.

Kiku put his head in his hands.

Peter's eyes widened, before he laughed. "You really are awesome," he said.

"Of course," he grinned, ruffling the little boy's blonde hair. Just then, the door to the solar burst open.

"Where have you been?" hissed Arthur, the clipboard clutched in his hand forgotten. "You have _thirty seconds_ to fetch your crown and get downstairs."

Gilbert stood, sending Peter an amused glance. "Keep your eyebrows on, Artie," he said. "No one's going to care if I'm a couple of minutes late."

Arthur was absolutely apoplectic. "No," he said. "No! You get your ass down there _right now._ Why is everyone so relaxed about this? This Augusteenth is more important than any we've had for the past century. You're the _Queen_, and you _will_ be on time." With that, Arthur marched over and took Gilbert's pale ear into a vice grip, dragging him towards the corridor

"H-hey, wait!" said Gilbert, reaching over and grabbing his crown from a nearby table just in time, before he was dragged away.

As soon as they left, Peter erupted into giggles. "Arthur's so silly!" he smiled.

"He got what was coming to him," said Kiku.

* * *

"Ve, Ludwig, Ludwig! Do you like my new coat? Lizzy made it for me~" said Feliciano, twirling and watching the knee length hem fan out. "She gave it to me early, she said she had something else for the Pyre."

It was indeed a nice coat, alabaster with black piping, and a standing collar.

"It's _wunderbar_, Feliciano," said Ludwig, keeping his disapproval to himself. The boy was much too comfortable with his former sister for his liking, but it was Augusteenth. Exceptions had to be made.

"I put your present in last night, Luddy!" he said, pulling at the larger man's sleeve. "It's a—"

Ludwig put a hand over his mouth. "If you tell me, it won't be a surprise," he said patiently. He had a lot of experience dealing with Feli. It had been hard to keep up with his incessant babbling when he had first joined their family, but Ludwig had soon gotten used to it, just as he had gotten used to Gilbert's noisiness and narcissism.

"Ve, Ludwig's so smart," he trilled, looking up at him with adoration.

His expression reminded him of the first time they had met. It had been Augusteenth then, too, thirteen years ago. Feli had cried and cried, about so many things. He missed his older siblings Elizaveta and Lars, he missed his twin brother Lovino, he missed his favorite food, pasta, which they didn't have on this side of the Wall.

Ludwig, eight years old at the time, had been the only one able to calm the little boy down. His father had died a couple of months prior, and as the new King, he wasn't about to make his new younger brother cry. So he found a servant that had lived in the Red Kingdom for some time to make him pasta, and had promised that he could see his brother (who had also moved to the White Kingdom, into a family with which he was somewhat acquainted) whenever he wanted to. And he had given Ludwig the same look he was giving him now, ve~ing quietly as he consumed inhuman amounts of the strange food.

Ever since the Red Kingdom had been attacked, Feliciano's blood siblings had moved into the castle with them, which he had been absolutely ecstatic about, and Ludwig couldn't bear to spoil his happiness.

There was a knock on the door, and it was opened quietly by Kiku. "Pardon my intrusion, Ludwig-sama," he said. "Arthur's on the war path, you might want to get downstairs soon."

"Kiku!" cried Feli, enveloping him in a hug. "Ve, doesn't the feast start in an hour?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

Kiku gently removed his arms. "Arthur-san is unaware of that, as per the instructions of Gilbert-sama," he sighed.

Ludwig fought the urge to sit down and count to ten. "Come, Feliciano," he said, repositioning his crown in the mirror before making his way to the door. "I'm sure Lovino will be waiting for you."

The three made their way down the enormous stone corridors, and Feliciano got side tracked by the delicious smells coming from the sloping hall way that led to the basement kitchen. He was just about to go down it, when the door to the kitchen opened and Alfred and his brother, Mason or something, emerged, and enormous tray balanced between them. "Make way for the main course," said Alfred as they barreled past with the Jub Jub bird, the traditional food of Augusteenth.

They moved out of the way as they were followed by a parade of other servants with smaller dishes, plates of honey cakes and tureens of soup, as well as a million different foods.

Yes, Augusteenth was indeed special.

* * *

An hour had passed, and Arthur had lectured everyone involved in tricking him, including poor little Peter, who had only known for a while. Everything on his checklist was accounted for, and, finally, they were sitting down for the feast.

The White King and Queen were sitting at the head of the long table, and the visiting Royal family was placed to their left. King Ivan and Queen Yao and all their siblings (neither had spouses or children) had made themselves at home during the past few months.

To the right was Feliciano, the only sibling of Ludwig and Gilbert. He was chattering away with Lovino next to him, who looked happy for once.

The Pyre was behind them, the fire in it enchanted so it wouldn't burn the handmade gifts in it.

Ludwig stood, tapping on his goblet with a silver spoon. The sound carried all the way down the hall, and the talking died down. He cleared his throat.

"We of the White Kingdom are honored to welcome our foreign guests to the three hundred and seventh Augusteenth." Ivan and Yao nodded. "In this time of war we have to come together and look past national differences. Next year, we may not have the resources to have such a feast, and this one is admittedly not as lavish as usual. But please, enjoy yourselves, eat to your heart's content, and forge new bonds. And, most importantly, remember why this day was founded. Remember Alice, and remember that she will one day come again. Let the feats begin." He sat. He'd never liked speeches.

There was smattering of applause, and everyone tucked in.

* * *

"Wow, thanks Artie!"

"You're welcome," said Arthur. "And thank you for, uh…"

"It's an Alice, man!" he grinned. "I had Mattie animate it for me when I finished." He looked awfully proud of himself.

They watched it walk around the table, stealing a tidbit of Jub Jub from Arthur's nearly empty plate.

The feast had wound down, and presents were being distributed. It was custom for gifts to be handmade, and given to your closest friends and family or people who had paid you're a service.

Making the gifts took a lot of time, but it was always worth it to see the looks on the faces of whoever received them.

"Hey, Artie?" he said hesitantly.

"Yes?" Arthur looked up curiously. Alfred was never timid.

"D'you think Alice will come next year?" he asked, gazing at the little figure, who had tripped over a stray spoon.

Arthur's expression softened with affection. The war had been hard for Alfred, who always tried to do the most he could. It was frustrating when that wasn't much. Arthur put an arm around his shoulder. "We can hope," was all he said.

Little did they know that, exactly a year later, she would walk through the door into their world and change their lives forever.

* * *

**A/N: Yaaay! An on time update! I'm so proud of myself, seriously. Forgive me for cutting it a bit short, but it was getting late... So, if you have questions about the story world/families, then hit me up with a PM. Until then, wait for me diligently!**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: Ahhh, I'm sorry this took so long! Almost three months… I was going to make a part two to the omake, but it's been so long that I think you guys need a real chapter. But here it is, chapter eleven! Just in case you guys forgot, Emil is Iceland. This one's for Puttylol, my best reviewer.**

* * *

"Alfred, I don't like this," whispered Victoria, adjusting her dress as she walked up the stone path, moving awkwardly in her finery. Emil walked behind her, muttering under his breath. _"Why did they make me come?"_

"It's okay," said a little voice in her ear. Alfred had taken a sip of Coke and shrunk in order to fit in her elaborate hair do. "This is just for information, we'll be out in no time. They can't hurt you unless you break the rules."

"We're going to break the rules!" she hissed.

"No, Emil and I are," he said patiently. He had argued and argued with Arthur and Mathias for a long time, until they had agreed to let him go, so long as one of the Five accompanied him.

"You remember the plan, right?" asked Alfred.

Before she could reply, the heavy door of the castle opened. "Hello, Alice," he smiled, and Victoria tried to control her breathing. It was the same man who had given her the letter.

"Who's this?" he asked in surprise, his eyes taking on a glint that she immediately disliked.

Despite his earlier nervousness, Emil stood tall. "Emil Steillson, of the N Five, the neutral party of Wonderland. I'm accompanying Alice for her safety."

Suddenly another man appeared at the door. "Feliciano, where have you been? Oh, is Alice here? And who's her friend?" he asked. He looked quite similar to the man he had named Feliciano, though he was slightly taller and infinitely friendlier. "Why are you standing here in the dark? Come in, come in!" he said, ushering them inside. "I'm Lovino," he said with a small bow. "Don't mind my brother here, he doesn't like strangers."

Feliciano rolled his eyes. "I think it's you who likes them too much," he muttered.

From behind her, Emil shivered.

* * *

"Hurry hurry hurry…" Victoria chanted under her breathe, glancing behind her as she ran, nearly tripping over the heavy fabric of her skirts. She hefted them up above her thighs and ran, paying no mind to propriety. _Alfred, where are you?_

"Alice, where are you?" a voice, several corridors behind, trilled, sending new waves of panic down her spine. "Hiding from your friends isn't very nice~"

_Hurry up..._

Had he waited a second longer, she might have been dead, but luckily, Alfred appeared in a corridor too her right. "Alice, this way!" he whispered urgently.

"We have to find Emil," he said, pulling a map from his pocket and trying to read it as they ran. "Where the hell are we?"

"You _left _him there?" she nearly shrieked, before she remembered to keep her voice down. "And you're holding it upside down!"

"Oh, right!" he said, righting it. "It's not far from here now. And I left him with Evil Natalya, 'cept I guess she's not so evil since the real one is so scary and all. Quick, through this door." He grabbed her hand and steered her through a door that blended into the stone wall. "It's just up this flight of stairs, then past the statue of the—OW."

They stumbled back in the dark, Alfred clutching his knee in pain. "Damn it, what was that?"

"Shh," cautioned Victoria, feeling around for him in the dark. "Listen."

They waited with baited breathes until they heard an echoing voice.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are! You can't run forever."

The footsteps paused and Victoria almost forgot to breathe.

"Feliciano, are you still at that?" came another voice.

"Evil Lovi," Alfred whispered.

"They ran off," they heard Feliciano say. "They broke the rules, that means I can—"

"Feli, Feli," sighed Lovino. "Why does everything have to be business? Can't you just relax, have a good time for once? We've already slipped the false information. They think we're keeping the King in the basement, so what's the problem? They'll head there and we'll pick them up later. C'mon, Artie made this torte I wanted to try…" Their voices moved farther away.

"I don't want to try anything that sick bastard made, it's probably filled with…."

Their voices faded completely.

Alfred released a long breath.

"They tricked us," said Victoria, trying to rise to her feet, but stopped by the weight she hadn't even noticed on top of her. "Alfred, get off of me," she said impatiently.

"Oh, sorry," he said, rolling off. "It's too dark, I can't see the map…"

"Hold on, I got it," she said, and put her hands together, closing her eyes, concentrating her energy in her palms. When she opened them, there was an orb of light spinning between them. It revealed a dark stone room that didn't seem to have any exits, other than the one they came through.

"Here, move that closer," he said, and they huddled around the map.

"If he's not in the basement, where is he?" she asked, studying the map. It was highly detailed, and right there on the third floor, there was a glowing green dot that showed their location.

"If they were leading us to the basement, then they were trying to get us as far away as possible from where he really is, right?"

"So it only stands to reason that he'd be in the highest place in the castle…."

"The North Tower," said Alfred.

* * *

Emil Steillson was feeling exceedingly uncomfortable by the moment.

"As soon as you find your friends you have to get out of here, understand?" said Natalya, her eyes pleading. "You can't attempt anything dangerous!"

"I'm sorry, but's it's my duty as—"

"Please?" There were small tears in her eyes as she clung to his arm.

A blush creeped up his neck. "Listen, I—"

"Natalya!"

"Oh no!" she gasped, flinching away from him. "It's Ivan, I have to go!"

And she was gone, blonde hair disappearing in the crowd.

Emil slumped in his seat in the corner of the hall. These people—strange, disturbing opposites of his own friends and family—filled the large room, talking and laughing. He watched as a darker haired version of Ivan searched for his sister.

He'd never been happier to have everyone ignore him. It wasn't like they were with Alice before... they had been all over her, gazing at her with their creepy eyes….

He stood. He needed to find them, before it was too late…

Well, he wasn't one of the Lowerworld's most powerful magic users for nothing.

He concentrated his energy on the top of his head, and let it slowly flow down through the rest of his body. He stiffened all over for a moment, but when he stepped away, there was a replica of himself in his place…

…and the real him was invisible.

Emil slipped through the door way, ready to find his friends.

* * *

"You have to be careful!"

"I know, I know," Victoria said, stepping out from behind the statue she had ducked around just moments earlier.

"Do you know who that was?" asked Alfred sharply, uncharacteristically angry.

"I didn't see…" she said, trailing off. "Should I have?"

"That was the other me." His voice was flat. "I don't want you getting anywhere near him, I don't know what I'd do if—" he broke off abruptly, looking away as his cheeks reddened slightly. "Come on, we don't have all night. It should be just up this stairway here."

_Oh great. More stairs. _She followed, lifting her mussed skirts as she scampered up the curling steps.

* * *

Ludwig woke from his feverish sleep to the sound of metal scraping against metal and the scent of magic in the air.

"Oh good," said Emil, looking up from where he was sawing apart the chains. "You're awake. Can you sit up?"

He struggled to move his injured form, ending up in some semblance of an upright position.

"Good enough," said Emil. "Now, I've almost got—"

Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs. "Gotta run!" he said quickly, stepping back and vanishing into thin air.

The door opened, and in walked the familiar face of Alfred, his White Rabbit.

"Hey there, big guy," he said, crouching in front of him and assessing the damage. "We've come to get you."

Beside him was a girl he hadn't noticed before. She looked weak, but even in his state Ludwig could feel the power that radiated off her in waves.

And in behind her, Ludwig noticed with dawning horror, trailed a cat.

"Get out of here," he said hoarsely. Because where that pink and white demon appeared…

…so did its master.

"Tut tut," said Arthur, tapping his chin as a smile widened slowly on his face as his electric blue eyes assessed the group. "Naughty children, aren't we?"

* * *

**A/N: OKAY. DONE. That really shouldn't have taken three months… it's because I wanted to put romance but then decided, screw this, it'll come when it comes, can't be forced! Now I can stop feeling guilty and post other stuff. Updates should be much more frequent, I have the definite plan for the direction of this story finalized.**

**As always, reviews warm my heart. **


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